Looking ahead: "The economic slowdown will cease, and growth and productivity will return to the American economy. This will be a slow process throughout the year. Existing start-ups and midcaps that are not focused on profit and bottom-line performance will disappear, and seed-level start-ups without a clear vision of growth and profitability will not get funded.

"As far as the public equity markets are concerned, corporate Darwinism will be the rule of the day."

Comeback company of 2002: Amazon.com. "People wrote it off, but it will still win in the long run."

Joining the dot-com graveyard: Epinions.

Nasdaq close on 12/31/02: 2,600.

Bold prediction: Shellshocked angel investors will continue to sit on the sidelines.

Looking ahead: "We will be investing at a pace that is significantly slower than two years ago and about the same as last year," Nelsen said. "In some sense, (venture investing) really looks like it used to. It is going to be tough.

"But there is still more venture money going out now than four or five years ago. Everybody looks at venture capital relative to the past few years -- not looking at it relative to history. It was always really hard to get venture money, and it still is."

Bold predictions: Wireless consolidation will pick up speed, Microsoft's .NET strategy will succeed, and a shakeout will occur in the venture capital business.

Looking ahead: "The dot-com collapse causes (information technology) managers in large and medium companies to be reluctant to do business with smaller software companies -- causing slower growth, longer path to liquidity, more-focused strategies and many more failures.

"The companies that emerge will be much stronger in the longer term, with better business and product strategies and stronger management teams."

Comeback company of 2002:Telect Inc. The Spokane company pulled its IPO in 2001 and was hit hard by the telecom bust, but Simpson -- who sits on Telect's board -- said it has nearly a "20-year history of profitable growth."

Joining the dot-com graveyard:

Internap Network Services Corp.

Nasdaq close on 12/31/02: 2,275.

Bold prediction: Amazon.com will open 250 retail stores in 2002.

Looking ahead: "Typically what leads the recovery is the next big thing. I don't know what that next big thing is," Simpson said. "But I think what we will see is that the areas that have been pummeled will come back."

"You are going to see a lot of venture firms broaden the type of investments that they make. Not only will they make their traditional series A investments in emerging companies, but they will be looking at things like recapitalizations, leveraged buyouts, turnarounds and PIPES" -- private investments in public equities.

Bold prediction: No more "fad investing" as VCs dig deeper into business fundamentals.

Looking ahead: "There is always going to be money for good companies. It is whether or not the venture capitalists themselves have enough confidence in their ability to pick one. I see a cautious re-entry into investing. ...

"We will cautiously come out in Q1 and Q2. Q3 will probably approach normalcy, and by the end of the year, venture capitalists will think about 2001 as if it was something that never really happened."